Improving natural disaster response technology through public-private cooperation

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Vietnam actively participates in natural disaster management cooperation

At the 2^nd ASEAN-Japan Public Private Seminar on Innovative Policies and Technologies for Disaster Risk Reduction taking place on the afternoon of October 11, Mr. Pham Duc Luan, Director of the Department of Dike Management and Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, wished that experts, including the private sector, share information about new technologies in natural disaster prevention and control that are being applied around the world.

"With outstanding achievements in the field of natural disaster prevention and control, Japan understands that cooperation, support, and knowledge sharing with other countries is not only a humanitarian action but also to protect the community and safe area from increasingly unpredictable disaster risk developments," said Mr. Luan.

According to Mr. Luan, in an effort to reduce natural disaster risks and quickly recover damage after natural disasters, Japan has constantly innovated technology, especially technologies on remote sensing, monitoring, warning, forecasting, construction machinery, structures, construction materials, etc.

Especially, the Japanese business sector always plays an important and prominent role in developing, disseminating, and applying technology, as well providing services in Japan's natural disaster prevention and control activities.

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Director Luan acknowledged that one of the ASEAN states that cooperates the most successfully with Japan is Vietnam. Based on a long-standing cooperative relationship in the field of natural disaster prevention and control, the two sides have shared information, experiences, and ideas, made diplomatic visits, and carried out technical exchange activities.

A typical example of these activities is the annual seminar between Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism over the past 10 years.

"We have jointly shared and exchanged views on technological measures and applications suitable to conditions in Vietnam, as well as measures to respond to flash floods and landslides, control floods, and take early response action before natural disasters occur," said Mr. Luan.

The outstanding success of this annual event is the use of discussion results in the formation and implementation of projects supported by JICA, such as the project “Reservoir operation in emergency situations and effective flood management by a comprehensive disaster management information system”; the project “Improving capacity to reduce flash flood and landslide risks in the Northern Mountainous Region,” etc.

Sharing views with Director Luan, Mr. Takeo Murakami, Director for International Cooperation at the Disaster Management Bureau of the Cabinet Office of Japan, said that humanity is in a period of change, a time when natural hazards are increasing and becoming more frequent due to the impact of climate change.

Mr. Murakami said that this is a time when the global economy is more vulnerable than before due to the increasing interdependence of economies. This is also the period when the need for the participation of non-governmental organizations is getting larger and larger.

"It is time to cooperate to respond to disasters and manage natural disasters. In this context, ASEAN member states have identified the importance of attracting partners, especially those in the private sector, to participate in natural disaster risk management and building a more proactive ASEAN region in activities to increase resilience," said Mr. Murakami.

ASEAN has achieved some results, such as the establishment of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM), the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre), the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), and especially the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Management (AMMMM).

Mr. Murakami believes that the meeting held on October 11 will contribute to promoting the ability of ASEAN members to respond to natural disasters while further promoting public-private partnerships in this field. "We highly appreciate this cooperation and hope to expand into other fields in the future through cooperation with the Japanese public-private sector," he emphasized.

Exchanging with the Vietnam Agriculture Newspaper on the sidelines of the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Duc, Director of the Thua Thien Hue Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that the locality is regularly severely affected by natural disasters. In 2022 alone, natural disasters caused more than VND 1,400 billion in damage to the province.

"The province always pays special attention to the work of preventing, controlling, and responding to natural disasters to minimize loss of life and property for the people. Thua Thien Hue is always the leading group in the country in terms of natural disaster prevention and control," Mr. Duc said.

In addition to renovating and repairing important dikes, embankments, and coastlines and upgrading the dike system, the Director of the Thua Thien Hue Department of Agriculture and Rural Development acknowledged that the addition and upgrade of technological infrastructure and remote sensing technologies will help the locality strengthen its ability to forecast and respond early to disasters.

Giving prominence to mutually beneficial cooperation between ASEAN and Japan in the field of natural disaster management, Director Pham Duc Luan hopes that relevant parties will have discussions and orientations for pilot cooperation in the coming time and, at the same time, create good lessons for bilateral cooperation between each ASEAN member and Japanese businesses in the future.